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After having reviewed the Stereolith demo from Belgian death metal outfit Orb Of Torture it seemed appropriate to learn a little more about this upcoming band and their music. A while ago I got the opportunity discuss a bunch of things with guitarist Tristan Van Dorsselaer. He proved to be quite elaborate, but also a bit eccentric in his answers.
You've made two demos prior to Stereolith. I assume you're not too proud of these since you promote Stereolith as your first semi-professional release?
We will never spit on our past as it is nothing to be ashamed of. The essence that drove us to this enigmatic and destructive art is timeless. So even if our representation of it was flawed in the past its strength and truth are undeniable. We have learned to embrace the hydra of error, for that is the only way to kill it… eventually.
It seems like you're inspired by bands like Necrophagist, Cephalic Carnage and to a degree also Suffocation. Could you say something about which bands that have had an impact on your music?
Those first two have not influenced us in any way. I used to quite like Necrophagist but found that their music grows stale very quickly. Perhaps because of the horrible squeaky clean production or the total lack of darkness in their music? Whatever it is, I cannot listen to it anymore. Suffocation on the other hand are probably the main reason why the five of us are playing death metal. Not the only reason, mind you. Basically we draw inspiration from the whole of musical history whether it is the beautiful or the vile, the ancient or the new.
I personally feel related to Dark Angel in terms of uncompromising arrangements, aggressive riffing and the length of songs. The eerie sense of melody of early black metal also left its mark. That buzzing archaic sound tapped into a very potent infinite cosmic incantation, winds from the mouth of infinity. They blow from beyond the darkest, most remote planets right through the centre of your brain.
For the destruction of all limitations and boring mindsets we listen to lots of experimental, electronic and classical music. When it comes to our production values old '60's and '70's music is very important. I think we currently live in the darkest of times for audiophiles. So much good music is killed by lifeless 'big' productions. Bad musicians are able to hide their tiny amount of talent behind it and good musicians lose their personality because of it. Of course the mediocre ears of the masses are fooled because it sounds 'good' and 'powerful'. They lap it up, mindlessly elevating it to the new norm. It has come to the point where I truly prefer an analogue four-track demo recording over any feeble synthetic trigger infested cut and paste ProTools crap.
You have quite a complex sound. Do you think it has helped tighten up the sound of the band that you've played quite a few gigs by now or could you have achieved the same just by staying the practice room?
I don't think so, playing shows gives us something to work for. If there's no pressure of an impending show, or recording session, a band will soon experience a lack of momentum and fade away. Our music demands a strict work ethic and we need goals to keep us motivated, otherwise it would become a chore. That is why we booked the studio way in advance. Now I don't mind having to work at the same two minutes of music for several rehearsals. We know that it will pay off eventually.
You recorded Stereolith in your rehearsal room and then got it mixed and mastered at CCR Studios. First and foremost I assume you did things this way for financial reasons, but where there other motives as well?
I was still recovering from an injury and it was uncertain whether I would be able to deal with the pressure of recording in a studio. If it wasn't for that unfortunate medical condition, which set us back about two years, we would surely have recorded more by now.
Anyway, apart from the arm infection issues and the financial aspect there was also the fact that we wanted to know if we could produce a recording with a sound that pleases us. The rather unfortunate answer to that question was that we couldn't. We lack the skills and analogue gear of a decent producer. So we humbly resigned from the duty and left the mixing and mastering to a professional.
How's the process of creating music in Orb Of Torture? Do you jam at home or write all the music in the rehearsal room?
Most riffs and basic structural ideas originate from personal practice sessions. During rehearsals we arrange, harmonize and in many cases end up fine tuning to the point of madness. In the haze of creation it's all too easy to get a bit carried away. While this initial phase is often the most fun, the results can be quite messy and we spend months and months cleaning up after ourselves. From inception to finalization the creation of one song can take up to a year, perhaps more.
I think we sometimes lose track of time, also because we mostly work on about three songs at once.
It might seem like a long time, but in the light of eternity it is utterly insignificant and that is, pretentious as it may sound, what we are dealing with. A confrontation with the eternal, inspiring a sense of awe that leaves a beautiful scar in the mind of the listener. That is our goal and we cannot dream of achieving it without condemning ourselves to a lengthy process of composition.
Death metal is often associated with rather shallow and blood-spattered lyrics. How big a role does the lyric concept play in Orb Of Torture?
I've got nothing against gore lyrics, if that is what suits the music best. Such a lyrical style can actually be useful in communicating certain ideas, atmospheres and deconstructing traditional paradigms. But when it becomes a purely formal exercise, blood drenched litanies tend to suck. It's always sad to see bands write about a subject because they have to. Words that are written only to fill empty space are useless. We have been down that road once in the past and it leads to emptiness. A lack of conviction or urge to write will always show through in lyrics.
The lyrical concept is important to us. It's difficult to narrow it down to one specific idea, but I think most of our words deal with the strength and weakness of the human spirit.
The artwork and logo on Stereolith doesn't exactly ooze of death metal. Is this intentionally or just a coincident?
Our logo is a variation on the traditional death metal style logos, you know, with the dripping blood letters; we just took it to a more abstract level. Our logo is free from 'the tragedy of the material realm' as Malevich would say. There's also a tribute to computer history in it, as the font we used is that of the first home computer, the ZX Spectrum.
The artwork for Stereolith was done by our bass player. He used pictures of stones he encounterd on a journey through Vietnam and Cambodja. Since we already had a song called '10 Billion Unique Monoliths' and another geological reference in the title of the CD we felt it was appropriate to continue this theme in the artwork. It is indeed intentional, but not in a premeditated way, if it make sense? It all came quite naturally.
I understand you're currently working on your debut full-length. Will this effort consist of only new material or will you reuse some of the material from the demos as well?
That is correct, we're rehearsing at least four times a week to make sure we can execute every single second of our songs perfectly. We want to keep the unpleasant surprises when we're in the studio to a bare minimum. It won't be a full-length however; our budget simply does not allow that. And don't forget that Stereolith is in fact only our second demo. Besides the limited budget we also want to deliver a collection of songs that is truly focused en coherent.
We picked the four compositions that we feel will work best together in mood, tonality and in the general context of the record, a revised version of "Frozen Hell Design", and three new ones, "The Initiation Rite", "Antarctic Frequency Catharsis" and "Godmode".
There will be some pretty unorthodox stuff going on, but firmly within a death metal framework. By the time opening track "The Initiation Rite" reaches its second minute your skull will have been split by twenty riffs, all killer no filler. Believe me you will be initiated…
You've booked studio time at CCR Studios in early 2008. Do you expect to record everything at CCR or will you approach things the same way as on Stereolith?
No, we will record everything at CCR Studios. We spend more then enough time in our rehearsal place as it is.
Are you currently looking for a deal or do you prefer to have a complete product to present before hooking up with a label?
We're looking for a deal, yes. We need someone to take care of all this fucking logistics and business crap. We're not very good at that and if we want to take this to the next level we need label support.
The Belgian scene has produced bands like Aborted, Emeth and Leng Tch'e among other. How is the scene doing these days?
Saturated in dejection… seriously though, a few good bands and tons of disposable ending on core crap. I hope they chugagchug off into the forgettable sunset soon, as my tolerance level for their puny sounds is at an all time low.
You know, music has become overly democratic in my opinion. It's time for a new elite, a metal aristocracy that looks down upon those who degrade our art. There are amateurs pissing against our legs and it's time to piss back.
There's of course nothing wrong with a democratic system in theory and I truly believe that anyone should have the right to make music. However, and this is an important distinction, if the whole world and its dog starts to record a serious problem arises. I did not ask to be confronted over and over again with the 'hobby' of people I don't know. I am tired to death of the nice and safe sonic residue left by people who have just figured out how to imitate the flavour of the month.
'True art is cruel by definition', and I think that works in both directions, audience and artist. An artist must at least go through some degree of suffering before his work has any value. There must be some kind of 'struggle' otherwise music is just an amusing activity to pass time. Music certainly can be fun, but if it never goes beyond that, there's something horribly wrong and it has no right to be preserved for the generations to come. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are too many uncritical, lazy musicians in metal, work hard or fuck off!
To make matters worse it is now generally accepted that everybody can decide for themselves whether something is good or bad. 'If I'm happy listening to the same idea being milked by 10.000.000 bands, then who are you to judge?' and that kind of bollocks. What kind of hellish world is it where looking down upon something that is clearly inferior is frowned upon? Think about the absolute horror this implies! A fucking amorphous blob of options, where not one choice is good or bad and everything is subjective.
A lot of bands promote themselves through sites like MySpace and Blabbermouth.net. Do you think MySpace and the internet in general has helped to make Orb Of Torture a little more known to people outside of Belgium?
Probably. People outside of Belgium should order more of our CD's though.
When looking ahead what next is in store for Orb Of Torture?
Studio time in March and hopefully a release not too long after that. A mini tour that will bring us to Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Holland in may. That'll be all for now.
Anything you'd like to add to conclude this interview
Thank you for your interest in our music, we really appreciate it!
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